1Cool

Thankfully I got a couple pity purchases and I’ll do some scanning tonight and post up the sets tomorrow for the masses. I’m sure the ROM set will go quickly since it’s really nice.

I’d rather people buy your’s and Crassus’s books since you guys have such good stuff and put in some effort scanning all your good stuff. Crassus’s books are so tightly graded that I’d be buying his stuff if I didn’t have tons of stuff to sell already! Of course everyone has stuff that’s good but I’m partial to you two

Don’t think there is any reason to put in more time so I’ll let it ride. Last VCC for me but I do appreciate the effort and the history of the event.

Glad to see things have slowed down to a level after the COVID craziness that you guys can travel a bit. The Cons have missed ya!

Ok - that is enough to test the waters. I’ve been holding on to these and hoping to get the old press out of storage since the defects are stacking related and they should press up nicely. Plenty of Bronze Star Wars and other books in the boxes so I may post up some more tomorrow if things go decent. Good luck everyone!

Ugh - hate being a last second slacker but it will have to do. I’ll go sort out a few more stacks of books and post those up in a half hour or so.

This is my first booth in probably 6 years and of course I forget my computer at work and need to do everything on my cell phone My booth will be bear-bones but should have some nice books at a good price. Shipping - shipping is free within the US but I am happy to ship international but shipping will be at cost minus $6. Returns - grading for these batches will be averages based on a quick grade but I’ve picked the best books from the boxes which should look much better with a press. If you disagree with my average grading please send the books back and I’ll pay for the return shipping. Return any time with a couple weeks of receiving the package. Payment - I prefer PayPal but and payment option is up for discussion but all payments will of course have to clear prior to shipping out. I’ve been selling books for over two decades either here or on E-Bay so feel secure in your purchase. Marvel Team Up Annual 4 - VF/NM average - Warehouse Find - $80 for set X-Factor 1 - VF/NM average - $80 for set Marvel Two In One Annual 7 - Underrated 1st Appearance of Champion - NM- Average - $100 set SOLD!!! X-Men 143 - NM- Average - Beautiful Byrnes - $150 for set ROM 1 - 70, Annual 1-4 - Complete Set - High Grade with #1 being in the VF/NM but the rest are higher NM average - $300 for set Uncanny X-Men 150 - Average Grade 9.2 - $90 for set Micronauts 1 - Very Nice NM average - $175 for set SOLD!!! Amazing Spider-Man Annual 15 - Average Grade of VF/NM - $90 for set New Teen Titans 10 - 2nd Appearance Deathstroke - Average Grade of NM- - $50 for set Daredevil 183 - VF/NM average grade - $150 set Secret Wars 9 - NM- Average Grade - $80 for set Moon Knight 15 - VF/NM Average grade - $80 for set Star Wars 50 - NM- Average - $90 For Set Silver-Surfer 1-Shot - Great Byrne Art - $110 for set SOLD!!!

Wow - that is great for Heroes!

Set up begins at 8:00 PM, correct? It's been awhile since I set up.

Set up starts tonight! I'm actually thinking about putting up some bulk stuff to clear out some space.

It's getting back to those type of shows but the problem is you have to be really careful what books you buy for $500 since it's a LOT tougher to find books that will sell for $1,000 on e-bay since the market seems to be shifted to tougher to find books and blue chip books. There still are books like Dave Stevens books that are hot right now (not really sure why the masses deemed his books to be hot all at once but hive mind is strong right now) but I see very few people hunting through boxes pulling out possible hot books at shows this year. The local shows in 2023 / 2024 where the first shows that I saw virtually no pre-show buying going on unless the person was a newbie and didn't know what they had. The feeding frenzy when books come into the room is basically dead since dealers are in the sell what I have mode (unless its ultra premium).

Were dealers able to sell copper age filler books for $5 when they exploded overnight to be $25 - $30 books because of some movie hype - heck yea. I'd go on Bob's website all the time and grab stacks of his books that had just gotten hot. I'm sure he didn't mind selling off a dozen books for $60 that he probably had $6 invested in. I'd go to Cons and buy stacks of spec books with a 20% bulk discount (which I'm sure the guy loved to move) and sell them for 2-3x within a couple months. It wasn't just the books that were currently hot but books that could get hot (ie Power Pack 1, Spider-Woman 1, etc) where plentiful in the $5 boxes and easy sales for $20 during the hayday. Now not so much

It’s the new market value for people stupid enough to auction stuff on E-Bay. Very, very few new highs being realized currently.

I don't hear many sellers asking for bailouts or asking people to be sorry for them since the market has been turned on it's head for a lot of people? The market is what it is - great at times and terrible at other times and people adapt or they go do something else with their time. Based on the dozens of low ball offers I get all the time asking me to cut my prices since the person is a lowly collector that can't afford that one book that they will never, ever sell, I'd say collectors have been asking for sympathy for quite some time but I guess that's the difference between passion and profits.

Let us know about the bolded part. They could call a book GD all day long as long as I get VG prices then no harm no foul. A bunch of people report that is what they experience even though I have a hard time believing it since the grade difference can be VF+ to FN which is a world difference in price. I'd love to hear how it goes for raw books.

Who had that Wave Warrior a VF with a full length crease? I'm assuming that is a typo that should be a VG to GD since I'd say quite a few would call it a VG.

For someone just starting out that didn't have to have keys, high grade pre-70s stuff or hot book of the week I think the last 10 years was a great opportunity to be a collector in comic books. Prices on run books have been very soft and I remember quite a few books I paid more for in the late 1980 compared to what I can sell them for now. And when you consider most collectors had a field day selling under copies to be able to fund those "over priced" grail books there wasn't many people losing their shirt in the stampede. Now that prices are receding, and demand is down for quite a bit do you think most collectors are happier or sadder knowing prices could be going down compared to when they eventually sell?

For a buy it and hold it for awhile buyer and seller I can see why you would think that (especially someone who likes to get up early and is knowledgeable about how to get those tough to find gems) but if you are a buy it and sell it fast guy I completely disagree. Buying and selling only SA/GA gems is basically like trying to hit only home runs and we know how tough it is to live on those. Bronze and Copper books are pretty much everywhere so it really doesn't take getting up early mornings to hit up auctions when there are long boxes of newer books to buy and sell. From a selling opportunity, the newer stuff was a gold rush when they were red hot which is an opportunity we won't see again for a very long time (if ever).

I can see why the guys who only specialize in older books could see the hot copper / modern spec buyers as a nuisance but those guys seem to have done pretty well during the boom even though they missed out on some easy more modern money. A dealer can't complain much when their copper age books get wiped out at $5 a piece when they had been sitting on them for years - even if they didn't get post explosion prices on some of them. A scorching hot market benefits pretty much every seller and I'm sure almost all will miss the movie spec money revenue one way or another.

You would be hard pressed to find any dealer who didn't sell to speculators during and before COVID. There was a lot of money made doing that so I'd think pretty much everyone would lament losing that steady stream of income. Plenty of dealers did a bunch of business in other areas of the hobby but movie speculator's money paid for plenty of vacations and children school loans for a bunch of people.

I'd agree with some of what you say but the "movie thing" is down to a trickle and you better be really quick to sell the hot book since they don't stay hot for long. The decade pre-COVID was a constant onslaught of books that are getting hot, projected to be hot, possible could be hot and scorching hot. There are minor blips every now and then but I'd basically call it on life support and things don't look good since the blips are coming less and less and spikes are less intense. Every Con I go to I hear several dealers lamenting the death of the speculators but if you are killing it with speculating on books then good on ya!

It's pretty crazy how fast things corrected especially if you consider the movie hype era lasted for well over a decade. It's completely collapsed in a year.

High grade pulps have to be as rare as hens teeth so I can see why money is flowing there. Anything that is readily available is not faring nearly as well.

Promoted Listings Standard | eBay It sounds like you pick what the extra percent that E-Bay charges you and a bigger percent add on will get your stuff in the adds that people see when the log into E-Bay. If you have nice books like X-Men 50 (or even better Spidey 50) then you will pop up in searches and get a ton of views even without the promotions. Now if you are trying to sell run books then it could make sense to pay for the promotion for a few months here or alert people to your store. I've never used it myself but I'm definitely thinking about it for the summer since sales have nose-dived and it would be good to get some extra views.

E-Bay sure seems to be pushing people to go that route by giving so many free listings that it make all your listings tough to get views so why not upgrade to the promotions. E-Bay is the only one winning with all the extra fees.